Level Global founder Anthony Chiasson gets six and a half years for insider trading

From Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia – Level Global Investors’s founder Anthony Chiasson was sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment for insider trading that earned him and his company $68m in illegal profits, Federal Judge Richard J. Sullivan said on Monday.

During Chiasson’s sentencing, Sullivan described the former manager’s wealth stated in his annual tax returns as staggering. "$16 million, $10 million, $23 million," Sullivan was quoted by the New York Times as saying, "That’s just staggering. It’s hard to imagine why someone would risk all that to engage in a crime like this."

Sullivan, who is a judge at the Federal District Court in Manhattan, also ordered the 39-year-old Chiasson to pay $5m fine and forfeit illegally obtained proceeds amounting to $2m. Chiasson must submit himself before the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 90 days, according to the court’s ruling.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initially filed a civil injunctive action against Chiasson and six other fund managers and analysts, as well as hedge fund firms Diamondback Capital Management and Level Global Investors in January 2012. "This case involves insider trading by members of a network of associated hedge fund traders who illegally obtained material nonpublic inf......................